Cookies, Wookies, and bunch of other Sith

What to do after running a marathon?
Go rub shoulders with stormtroopers, jawas, a wookiee and a Sith Lord, of course.

A trip to Hollywood Studios in 2016, it turns out, involves a LOT of rubbing shoulders with the Star Wars universe.  Which sat quite well with 50% of Clan Cook.  You can probably deduce which half that was.

But c'mon, how can anyone pass up the chance to mug it up with Chewbacca?

Hollywood Studios has historically been one of our favorite stops on the Disney tour, though truth be told, of late, it's been looking a bit threadbare.

Probably never more so than this visit, when most of the back half of the park was completely closed.  Attractions are in flux, so quite a bit was off-line, but it does present a somewhat bleak landscape when so much of the park is now off the grid.

Backlot tour, the Art of Animation, and others fill the list of casualties, with even more closing in the next few months.

I have no doubt the end product (expanded Star Wars and Toy Story lands) will be worth the wait, but the park needs some serious TLC in the meantime to keep the Magic alive.

Coming off Star Tours, which now features a pit stop on Jakku via the Force Awakens, and lo and behold, a packed-to-the-gills gift shop!

Where once again, the father-son battle light saber battle ensued

Lunch in the Primetime Cafe is always an adventure, so long as you keep your elbows off the tables and eat your vegetables.

Then it was was over to the new Star Wars pavilion.

Immediately, I was beset upon by a jawa who was admiring my marathon medal.  Probably because it was so shiny.  Harmless, right?

Yeah, until the greedy bugger tried to take it for his own.

From there, we headed over to meet up with the greatest of the Sith Lords himself.

On our way in, we got to scope out the various stormtrooper and light sabers of the Star Wars mythos.  (If we could have, Andrew and I would have done battle with the real deal light sabers.  Damn protective cases.)

Jackie and Heather were too afraid to meet the Sith Lord, so they waited outside.

Once inside, Andrew and I were immediately schooled by the Sith Lord himself, Darth Vader.

He happily welcomed us to the ranks of the Empire.

From there, we went on to mug it up with Chewbacca, where the girls did join us.  Apparently they're not as afraid of the big furball.

Props and promos from the movies are EVERYWHERE!

From there, we headed over for a little Toy Story Mania, and Andrew got to renew a pose in front of one of his favorite companies on Earth.  He's determined to work for them some day.

Andrew really does think that movie is about his childhood.

(This is an unabashed plug for Andrew's own blog, fittingly enough, called Andy's Room.  You can check it out here: Andy's Room

Two of these gunners look way too serious for this ride.

To Infinity, and Beyond!